Some of you guys are not thinking this through, IMO.

Anderson has not sold a single share until a few days ago. On paper, he was a very wealthy man -- but almost all of his wealth was concentrated in a single asset. What's more, no matter how confidant he is about the ongoing negotiations, the fact remains that the outcome probabilities are binary in nature -- i.e. the outcome will either be good (likely) or bad (unlikely). If it's bad (real bad), you could see the share price collapse. That would be very bad for Anderson and every reasonable person (and his dog) would be asking: Why the hell didn't he take some profit? If the outcome is good, then the share will go up dramatically, but so what? By selling some now, he has guaranteed his financial independence for the rest of his life. Anyone who says that what he did was not the right thing to do from a financial planning point of view does not know anything about financial planning...